Specialists
by DarkStarlet
Summary: Join Cass, Dan, Shadow, Rox, Glitch and the twins Ken and Law as they journey through the Wastelands. After being frozen in time for over 200 years, how will they fare in this brand new world? Rated M for violence and mature scenes in later chapters.
1. Introduction

**(AN - I do not own Fallout or any of its characters. I only own the OCs and the plot. Please R&R and enjoy.)**

Introduction – Falling

This was it, the end of the world, the end of everything. Nothing would survive this, nothing could, could they?

The bombs were falling.

People hurried left and right, like bugs under a rock now exposed, not really listening to the military giving out instructions. There were Vaults that could protect them from the radiation, but not everyone wanted to walk into those depths where they might never return from.

There were a couple of small trucks blocking the path to one of the Vaults, and young people, between the ages of sixteen and twenty, were being dragged over to it and questioned.

It was chaos.

The trucks had strange symbols on their sides, and the name of a company, it was called Cryo-genesis.

Cassandra Fuller was the next to be ripped from her family being shoved into a Vault and pushed towards the tall man waiting to speak to her.

"Name!" he barked, glaring down at the girl before him, his brown eyes nearly black with his rage and worry, his usually neat, slicked-back, hair now falling into his eyes without the care he normally took of it. He had a computer-pad thing in his hands, and was scrolling down it quickly, searching for something.

"Who wants to know?" Cassandra retorted with venom.

"General Yates. Name… please."

"Cassandra Fuller. Look, what's this about?"

"Age?"

"Nineteen. Seriously, my mum's looking for me-"

"Gotcha! You'll do just fine."

And with that the now sweating General yoinked Cassandra through the gap between the trucks and down a slope into a Vault. He shoved her into a room filled with strange bed-like tanks and took her over to one that didn't have glass covering it. The glass on the other tanks were frosted over, like they were immensely cold inside.

She was pushed in front of an open cabinet; it was filled with weapons, though some of them were missing. She was made to pick a weapon and explain why she'd picked it.

"I want the sniper rifle because I'd be useless at close-combat. I'm not strong enough to overpower someone with my bare hands or with a knife. I'm also not strong enough to lift heavier guns. The sniper is the best for me; I can strike from a distance and get away before I get caught."

Yates nodded, made a note on his pad and pushed a rucksack into her arms before picking the girl up and tossing her into one of the tanks.

It was kitted up like a bed inside, with a mattress, pillow and thin blanket. There was that same symbol on top of the glass, the same name, Cryo-genesis.

"I'm sorry." Yates frowned as he pressed a button to slide the glass closed over the near hysterical girl. She started beating her palms on the glass, screaming to be let out, hot tears forming in her eyes.

There was a soft hush from the tank and General Yates took a few steps back from all eight of the now filled tanks…

Eight kids to make it… he hoped. He recorded a message on his pad and put it into a drawer next to a computer.

"Forgive me." He whispered as he left the room, sealing the door behind him and making his way out of the Vault. The huge round door also rolled into place and locked.

Yates reached into his pocket and took out his wallet. Inside was a picture of his wife, and his daughter at her wedding. He smiled and looked up at the sky; he could see it now, the bombs falling to meet the earth, to destroy all that anyone had ever known.

The shockwave struck him first, knocking him off his feet and flung him, and the few left out of the Vaults off their feet. Yates smacked into the Vault door and heard his leg snap with the impact, he didn't really feel it though, he didn't have the time to.

Everything went fuzzy, and he felt dizzy. He knew this was the first wave of the radiation, and he looked at his wife and daughter one last time. They're been killed in a car accident on a family holiday last summer. At least he'd get to see them again.


	2. Waking Up

Chapter 1 – Waking Up

It was cold, so cold, and she couldn't see, her eyes were frozen shut. That man, what was his name? He'd put her in the cold, he'd made her tears freeze to her skin so that when she'd rubbed her face, it had hurt even more.

Where was she? Who was she? She couldn't tell… everything was too cold and fuzzy. There was… noise? Was that what it was called? Perhaps this was what it felt like to be dead… What is dead? What is not dead?

Not being dead… was being alive. Was she alive?

Movement on the glass above her made her thoughts stop in their tracks, ice shifted and a face peered in through the gap that they'd made, light spilling in causing her to wince in pain.

There was a slow juddering hiss from the glass, and it moved to the side, warmth filling the frozen air.

Strong arms reached in and lifted her up and out of the tank, into the light and warmth. There it was again, the… noise… no not noise, the voices.

"Is she alright?"

"What's wrong with her?"

"Who is she?"

"Shut up guys, she's still in shock from the freeze; she'll be alright in a few minutes."

It was warm, too warm, and she felt her limbs tingling with the warmth, pins and needles all over her body.

Her eyes came unstuck.

She blinked in the bright light and shut her eyes again, wincing and letting out a low moan of discomfort.

"Well, she did better than the other one…" murmured someone, a female voice.

"Put her on the desk, near the heater, she'll wake up properly in a bit. We'll look at her file and see what her name is-"

"You can't do that! That's rude. Let's just ask her when she wakes up, if she dies, then we can look at the file."

"Wow… you're such a bitch…"

"I heard that…"

Ca… Caaasss… Cassan-dra… Cassandra! That was her name, she was Cassandra! Cassandra Fuller from… um…?

Oh well she could worry about that later.

Cassandra moved her arms and legs a bit, getting used to moving them again. She felt stiff, not just from the cold, but from… time? Yeah, time. She'd not moved for ages she thought to herself, why was that?

She sat up slowly, opening her eyes carefully and looking round the room.

She was in that room with the tanks, the one that General Yates had shoved her in, and six other people were in the room with her. One of the tanks was still closed, and two of them were smashed open, the glass spread over the metal floor. Two of the guys before her had cuts on them, one had bandaged knuckles, and had obviously broken his way out of the tank, and the other guy, a little younger than her, had cuts on his arms and face. By the looks of things the big guy had broken him out too.

Then there was a tall blonde girl, the only other girl there save from Cassandra herself, and she just looked at everything with distaste and disgust, like she'd rather still be frozen.

There was a tall dark hair youth in the back, he wasn't really part of the group and seemed to be trying to make himself invisible. And then there were two really young boys, perhaps only just sixteen, they both had curly hair and stood together, arms touching, the same looks of fear and worry on their twin faces.

"Hello…?" Cassandra said, her voice hoarse with lack of use.

"You okay?" asked the big guy when they all turned to look at her.

"I guess… what happened? The bombs… did they hit?"

"We don't know, we haven't been able to get out of this room, but there's some files I can't get into on this here computer, so…"

"I can fix that!" smiled the smaller boy. He stepped into Cassandra's view and she saw his bright green eyes reflecting his eager knowledge. He had messy light brown hair, and a light tan, like he'd been sunning himself a lot recently.

"I know computers, I'm a Hacker, it's my specialty…"

"Get to it then Glitch." The blonde exclaimed loudly.

"I'm Cass- hey, did you hear that?"

"Cass…?"

"Ssh!"

The seven froze and listened carefully, hearing nothing for a time, and then a distant scuttling noise and what sounded like a strong wind in the distance.

Cassandra went to the door and tried the handle; it wouldn't budge, rusted with age, so she turned back in frustration.

"I'm Rox by the way…" the blonde half smiled.

"Yeah, I'm Kenneth, and he's Lawrence, we're twins…"

"I'm Daniel." mumbled the strong man.

"So what's the shadow's name?" Cassandra asked quietly, still trying to listen.

The young man in question didn't say anything, he just looked at them all, without really looking, and shifted his weight uncomfortably.

"… Shadow it is then…" Cassandra decided.

There was a clinking, scuttling sound from outside of the door, and Rox let out a little squeal.

"Ssh!" everyone hushed.

Silence once more.

They waited in the flickering light, listening, not daring to move. When nothing happened for a few long moments, they relaxed a little, but were all keeping an ear out for that scuttling…

"So… what do we know about all… this…?" Cassandra waved her arms around, gesturing to the room in general.

"You just gestured to all of us."

"Yes."

Glitch jumped in at this point, still clutching the computer pad.

"I think I know!"

"Go on then." Daniel smirked.

"By the looks of the encrypted files, General Yates was trying to save our lives, and help regenerate the human race. He did this by picking out specialists in certain fields, I'm good with technology, Daniel's the strong man, and you know heavy artillery and stuff. So he chose us to… continue the human race after being cryogenically frozen until the radiation outside of the Vault reached a safe level. Unfortunately I don't know how long we've been frozen for, but judging from the remains of… Hannah Matthews, it's been more than… 100 years…? But that's a rough guess…"

"A hundred years!" Rox cried taking a step towards the shorter boy.

"But that's just a rough guess! I could be wrong!" Glitch backtracked.

Daniel jumped in at this point quieting the pair before an argument could arise. The twins went to stand near the door, and one of them, it was hard to tell them apart, listened at the door for that scuttling noise. Cassandra sat down again, feeling a headache coming on.

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up into the dark eyes of the aptly dubbed Shadow. He had a slight frown on his face, a slight hint of concern in the orbs that stared at her with great intensity.

"I'm alright Shadow, just a headache… I need to get out of here… we need to get out of here…"

Shadow nodded and took his hand away from her, returning to his corner. Cassandra went back to her tank and took out her rucksack and rifle, then heading for the door.

"Where do you think you're going?" Rox called haughtily.

"I'm getting out of here."

"And how exactly do you plan to survive in a radiation ravaged world exactly?"

"I'm a survival expert, or at least I was, I'm not sure what I might find out there, but I'm not sitting round in here to waste away. Anyone who wants to join me is welcome."

Shadow, Glitch and the twins grabbed their gear and stood with her at the door, and Daniel followed, if a little reluctantly, but Rox stood still as stone, her eyes disbelieving.

"So, Ken and Law, what skills do you have?"

"I'm good with explosives…" admitted the one on the left.

"And I'm good with making traps…" admitted the other.

"Shadow?"

The young man didn't speak; he just mimed a stethoscope in the air and nodded at them.

"You're a doctor?"

Shadow shook his head and mimed taking a step back from that.

"A trainee doctor?"

Shadow nodded.

So they had a survivalist, technical support, explosive and trap experts, a heavy artillery man, a doctor and… what was Rox?

"Rox?"

"Mechanic…"

Cassandra nodded and turned to the door, her back to the blonde.

"I'm getting out of here Rox… you can come with us or stay here alone, but I'm not going to force you to make the choice. It's all up to you. Either way, we're getting out of here."

"I'll go, just let me get my stuff…"

She slung her rucksack on and grabbed her weapon, a large hunting knife with a serrated edge, and joined them near the door.

As a second thought, Cassandra smashed open the case of poor dead Hannah, who didn't survive the freezing process, and took her pump-action shotgun from her.

She nodded to Daniel to break open the door, and put the shotgun in position, in-case the scuttler came back.

Daniel broke the hinges off the metal frame and dropped them noisily to the metal floor where they clanged making an echo in the room, and in the corridor outside.

The door fell out into the corridor and Daniel hefted his machine gun and waited, listened.

When nothing happened he stepped into the dim hallway and looked around, and then looked for an exit sign.

"So how do we get out of here again? I can't remember which way Yates took me."

Rox stepped in and led the group to the right, then left and left again. They came across a large empty room that echoed when they stepped into it. There was a large round hole where the door should be, the jagged and blackened edges suggesting some kind of explosive. The door itself was buried in the opposite wall, three feet deep.

Daylight streamed through the doorway, and a distant shout reached their ears through the gap. Daniel took point and crept up to the door, peering round the corner and waving the rest of the group forwards once he'd determined it was safe.

"This blast was recent… a day at the most." Whispered Ken, or was it Law?

Cassandra stepped out of the Vault and onto the dusty earth outside, she moved silently, shotgun ready, and walked up the slope towards the golden light of a new world.

**(AN - Please tell me what you think so far! R&R)**


	3. Untameable

Chapter 2 – Untameable 

The sun was scorching, as it always was in the desert surrounding New Vegas, and it wasn't kind to new arrivals.

The sun blinded a small group of people emerging from the longest sleep in the cold, and they spent a long time just standing around getting used to the burning sensation. Three figures watched them from a distance, their bellies pressed into the ground, sharp eyes focused.

Who were these people emerging from the Vault they'd blasted? No one had gone inside, so they could only have come from within. Easy pickings really. They'd take them out and steal their stuff.

Daniel stood on a rock, examining his surroundings carefully. This had used to be where his home was… The remains of St Johns Boulevard were still visible, but all traces of habitation were non-existent. Before the disaster, Daniel was learning to drive; he was going to take his test next week. His little sister was about to start high school, and his dad had just got a promotion… it had all been going so well… he should have known it was too good to be true.

Something in the distance caught his eye, something shiny. He glared into the heat haze and his eyes widened in shock and fear when he saw what he saw.

"Get down!" he shouted to the group, and watched them all dive behind rocks as he hid away himself.

The rock overhang that had covered the entrance to the Vault exploded out and up, sending shards of razor stone into the sky. Dust filled the area after the explosion and Daniel hurried the group round the other side of the rock, out of view of the nutters with a bazooka.

"What the heck was that?" Cried the twins in unison.

"Bazooka. We gotta get out of here."

"How 'bout over there?" Glitch pointed into the distance.

Through the sand they saw what looked like a small city in the distance.

A second explosion sent them running for the city, Rox and Cassandra dragging the twins behind them, Glitch taking the lead, Daniel and Shadow bringing up the rear.

They ran past some dusty buildings they hadn't noticed before, but they recognised the dirt coloured tanks and huts.

"Ain't that the Samson Rock Crushing Plant?" Cassandra yelled as the kept on running.

"It sure is!"

"Guess what guys?" Glitch cheered, "We're going to Vegas!"

They smiled as they ran now; almost forgetting about the death they were leaving behind them.

An hour later they were all walking slowly northwards under the burning sun, Rox and the twins complaining about the heat and lack of a break, but they were kept onwards by Daniel and Cassandra.

"Hey Cass!"

"Yeah?"

"Is that a building?" Glitch pointed to something to their right. It was a building. There was a rusting red truck and a dumpster outside of it, and it looked deserted. With the sun going down Cassandra wanted to find shelter, the desert at night would be freezing and could kill them.

"Let's check it out."

Daniel warned them to be careful, and Cassandra decided that they should only send a couple of people to look around; Shadow stepped forward, indicating that he wanted to go with the young woman.

They left the others under the shelter of a large spiky bush, and headed towards the building.

"I think this is that old pump station…" Cass mumbled to herself as they got close. Shadow didn't say anything.

The door to the building was slightly ajar and movement could be seen beyond it. The pair sidled up to either side of the door and Cass peered in at the three figures inside. They were dressed like barbarians of old times, like monsters, with animal skulls as helmets and strange, energy powered, weapons. One of them also wielded a baseball bat.

Cass readied her shotgun, realising that she might have to kill someone in order to survive, and she nodded to Shadow to be ready. He pulled a couple of hand guns from the pockets of his hoodie and took the safety off.

Cass kicked the door open and yelled for the men to get on the floor or die, two of them did it out of shock and fright but the third charged at her with the bat, eyes bloodshot and pupils huge, like some kind of drug addict.

She froze, she couldn't shoot him.

Two shots struck the mad-man in the chest, knocking him back, his breath coming out of him in a loud whoosh.

Cass turned and looked behind her.

Shadow was standing over her, pistols smoking, a grim look on his face.

The other two men in the room stood and grabbed their gear. They clambered out of a small window at the back and ran away.

"Shouldn't we go after them…?" Cass asked quietly, staring at the dead man on the ground before her.

Shadow shook his head and walked past her into the room. He knelt down next to the body, and stripped it of weapons, before dragging it outside and tossing it in the dumpster. Cass just stood there, feeling dumb, and didn't even realise that she'd started crying until Shadow hugged her.

She clung to him as the shock took over and the sobs shook her body.

"I-I-I I'm sorry, Sha-Shadow…"

He just held her tighter, there being nothing else he could do for her right then. He picked her up, like he'd done when they'd released her from the cryo-tank, and kicked a computer off the nearest desk before setting her on it.

She sat there, still crying softly, and watched Shadow clean up the room a little, and explore the pump room beyond it. He pushed some of the desks against the windows and lodged them in place with chunks of concrete and twisted metal.

He then left to get the others, leaving her alone.

Cass waited until she was sure he was gone before standing to look around the room properly. The walls were once a pale mint green, but now they were peeling and black in places from years of dirt. The tiled floor had fared no better and it looked like someone had lit a small fire in one corner at some point too. The roof was a mass of once white paint flakes, black dirt and cobwebs.

How long had they been asleep?

Cass wiped her eyes on her sleeve, no doubt spreading dirt all over her face, and took a deep breath to steady herself. The guys would be here soon enough, she ought to try and clean up a bit. She went out the front door and grabbed some branches from a small desert bush near the door. And then swept the floor as best she could, she needed to do something to take her mind off what had just happened.

It was fifteen long minutes later that everyone arrived, Rox and the twins looking shaken, and Glitch and Daniel looking even darker than ever. Had they encountered something too?

They trooped in and closed the door, shoving a desk against it and then slumping to the floor, exhausted.

"What happened to you guys?"

Daniel looked at the others to see if they were willing to talk about it, but when no one piped up, he took the lead.

"Giant scorpions. Like, car sized! A bunch attacked us, must have been the radiation, mutated them or something…"

"Radiation-Scorpions?"

"Yeah… Rad-Scorpions, that sounds about right."

"Jees…"

"What about you? Have you been crying?"

"Um… yeah… a bit…"

"What happened?"

"Well, we got here and was looking around inside and Shadow-"

"Did he do something to you?"

"What? No! I was nearly killed-"

Shadow looked up at this point and went to stand protectively behind Cass, sending a glare in Daniel's direction.

"What the fuck are you looking at murderer?" Daniel began to shout, standing and stepping towards the taller boy. Shadow put a protective arm around Cass, and pulled her back to his chest. He didn't say anything.

"Get off her!"

"Dan, Shadow, please don't fight-"

"Cass, I don't mean to be rude, but I think you should shut up right now."

"If the pair of you don't stop being children, I'll shoot you both myself!" Cass roared.

She shook herself free of Shadow's grasp and planted herself firmly between both of them.

They stopped glaring at each other and stared at her.

"There's no need for this. Dan, Shadow killed a man to save my life. And Shadow, I know you're just trying to protect me, but holding me like that makes me feel like a human shield."

"Oh…" Dan looked at the floor and Shadow ran his fingers through his messy hair.

They sat on opposite side of the room, Rox, Glitch, Ken and Law snuggled up together, and Cass didn't know who she should be near to.

She gave up and went into the pump room. She found some bits of paper and some planks of wood. If the night got too cold she could start a fire to keep them all warm. The door to the pump room opened and someone followed her in, moving quietly, like they didn't want to disturb her. She decided to ignore them and continue picking up the wood.

When she thought she had enough she turned and went back into the office, dumping the pile in the middle of the room. Everyone was accounted for. Whoever had been watching her must have slipped back to their spot when she wasn't paying attention.

Her primary suspect was Shadow; he was so silent all the time.

Cass lay in the middle of the floor, away from everyone, and stared at the broken ceiling.

How would they get out of this desert alive? With all the people and animals out to get them, it was a wonder they even made it through today.

She'd think about it tomorrow, surely sleep would help her through it?

It took a long time to fall asleep though, thoughts of not waking up plaguing her, but it arrived as it always did, unexpectedly. Her sleep was like blinking. One moment the night was moving in, darkening the room quickly, and the next it was morning, the sun getting into the room through the gaps round the tables against the windows, and through the open door.

She opened her eyes slowly, and realised she wasn't where she'd fallen asleep. Instead she was now cradled in Dan's arms, and everyone else was missing, gone out the door by the looks of things.

"You're so cute when you sleep…" mumbled Dan right next to her ear.

She jumped and pushed herself out of his arms.

"What're you doing?" she stage whispered.

"Sorry, you just looked rather uncomfortable…" Dan smiled as he too, got up.

"Well… don't okay, just don't."

"You'd rather Shadow was holding you?"

"Where did that come from? We don't even know each other! I don't even know you!"

Dan looked down at the floor, a frown on his brow, and then he silently walked out into the morning sun.

Cass stood by herself, for some reason feeling bad about the situation. But it wasn't her fault, she hadn't done anything to provoke that reaction… had she?

She slung her pack on her back and readied her weapons, and headed out into the blistering heat of this wild new world.

**(AN - Is it any good? Let me know!)**


	4. Closing the Distance

Chapter 3 – Closing the Distance

They'd been walking for three days now, camping in abandoned buildings. They'd not come across any Rad-Scorpions, but they'd seen people in the distance.

When they had seen them, they'd hidden themselves, not wanting to get involved.

They'd hunted a strange cow-like animal, with massive curled horns, and roasted a large haunch over their fire. Cass had smoked a lot of the meat too, and had taken some of the smaller bones to make tools out of. She also cured the skin and had wrapped that up and taken it with her too, just in-case.

They'd now stopped above a campsite of some kind, where the golf course had been. They'd seen a sign that said this was Camp Golf, and that some group called NCR were in charge of it.

Dan and Rox had gone to get a closer look, whilst Cass and Shadow were left in charge of Glitch and the twins.

They were telling each other about their lives before the bombs, their parents, schools and jobs. What they did a weekends and who they hung out with, all of that.

Ken and Law were suspended from school for blowing up the boy's toilet, and their parents were going through a divorce. They thought they were going to be split up, and so they'd been planning to run away. The bombs had dropped the day after their sixteenth birthday.

Glitch had been in police custody for hacking into their database to erase his record. He'd got away during the confusion and then Yates had picked him up.

The only one who didn't share was Shadow, who Cass now realised was completely mute. When she asked if he'd always been like that he'd shaken his head and refused to write in the sand about his life.

Cass was going to college to study, and then she was going to go round the world and see everything she could. Oh well, they all had new lives now.

It was nearly nightfall when Dan and Rox returned, panting and with gunshots following them. Urge onwards by the angry shouts the seven headed north once more and didn't stop until they reached another encampment. It looked like a refugee camp, and they hurried to the gate before it closed.

There were a couple of men at the entrance, who waited for them before closing the gates for the night. For the first time in four days, they were with other people.

"Hey there. I'm Bert Gunnarssen, welcome to Aerotech."

Cass turned to look at who had talked to them, and was nearly sick when she saw Bert. What had happened to him? He looked like he was dead, or should be anyway. Like a zombie.

Rox paled, but didn't make a noise, the twins gasped and hid behind Glitch. Dan and Shadow didn't seem to react.

"Em… hey… Bert, was it?" Cass ventured.

"That's me. You guys looking for a place to stay for the night?"

"Yes?" Cass squeaked.

"Follow me then. You can fit three in the tent over there, but if you all want to stick together, as most people do these days, you can use suite 300 over there."

The… man… pointed to a low set building, and Cass waved the group towards it, they hurried onwards and into the building.

Inside the door was a living area to the right, with two small sofas and a coffee table. They sat on them and shut the door tight.

"What the hell was that?" Rox finally got out.

"Um… a nice zombie?" Glitch offered.

Rox clipped him round the ear.

"We could ask him…" Cass mumbled.

The unanimous vote was no.

They settled down to sleep, but Cass kept watch all night, and didn't allow herself any rest until morning.

Dan and Shadow went out to explore Aerotech and Cass finally got some sleep. When she woke next it was late afternoon, and the smell of food brought her out of the empty house/office and into the main courtyard.

It seemed that there was a group barbeque going on, so Cass wandered through the small crowd trying to find her team.

She came across Glitch hanging out with some guys near suite 200.

"Hey! Who's the babe Glitch?" asked a man in a dirty red jacket.

"That's Cass, the leader of the group I mentioned. She's pretty cool."

Cass stepped over to them and leaned on Glitch's shoulder.

"I don't remember being called leader now Glitch, who's your friend?"

"I'm Keith, nice to meet 'cha' Cass."

"Hi Keith."

"You wanting anything?"

"What? You're the one who called me over here…"

"Come with me, I'll show you something good." Keith got up and Glitch followed him into suite 200, waving Cass to follow him.

Inside the room, next to the door was a barrel of burning books and a couple of ragged-looking men. Glitch and Keith were heading down the corridor and into one of the rooms at the back. Cass hurried to catch them up, feeling uncomfortable.

Cass reached the room and looked inside. Keith waved something at her.

"50 caps and these chems are yours."

Cass looked at him blankly.

"Caps are money now Cass." Glitch said eagerly, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a bottle cap with 'Sunset Sarsaparilla' written on it.

She frowned at Keith and then back at Glitch.

She grabbed Glitch's arm and dragged him out of the room and out of the building, she took him back to suite 300 and threw him onto one of the sofas.

Rox and the twins were there, Shadow was in a dark corner, and Dan followed the pair inside, his arms full of food.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Cass yelled at the younger boy, "You freaking idiot!"

"What's going on?" Dan asked.

"This twit's been taking drugs!"

"What? I never-"

"Don't you try to deny it! I bet if I go ask Keith if he gave you anything he wouldn't say no! You are staying where I can see you, at ALL times now, d'ya hear?"

Glitch fell silent and stared at the floor.

"Shadow, can you check him for needle marks and such. I want to be sure. Then I'm gonna find Zombie Bert and let him know what's going on."

"He's not a zombie… he's a ghoul." Ken/Law whispered.

"Okay, Ghoul Bert then."

Shadow did as he was told and pointed at a mark on Glitch's arm. A needle mark.

Cass was furious. Her father had died of a drug overdose when she was three, and she'd hated them ever since.

"Dan, Shadow, he is not to leave this room, and no one from suite 200 is allowed in til I get back."

She stormed out and found Bert near the tent, standing with another man dressed in army gear.

"Excuse me, Bert, can I have a word?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"You know that guys, Keith? He's been giving drugs to Glitch; he even tried to sell me some!"

"What? Captain Parker, you know what to do."

The man in army gear stomped off towards suite 200. He returned a few moments later with Keith in tow, protesting all the way.

"Thanks for this… um…"

"Cass."

"Thanks Cass. We've been trying to get him for a while, but never had any proof. You've done us a good favour there."

Cass nodded and headed back to suite 300.

Glitch was on the floor, Rox was sitting on him, and Dan had a bloody nose.

"What's going on here then?" Cass glowered.

"Little shit punched me and tried to escape."

Cass grabbed some twine from her pack and bound Glitch's hands behind his back, and tied his ankles together, then tied his wrists and ankles together.

"You are not going anywhere, d'ya hear? Keith's being dealt with, and you're not getting anywhere near anymore chems, _ever_."

Glitch didn't say anything, but he did start to cry.

Cass and the others had no sympathy for him, and left him trussed up on the sofa while they ate. Before going to sleep that night, Cass untied his ankles, but instead kept the boy tied to the sofa she was sleeping on, so that he couldn't go anywhere without her knowing about it.

The following morning, Cass suggested they move on, and the others agreed, wanting to be away from Aerotech.

They waved goodbye to Bert and Parker at the gate, and turned north once more heading for the New Vegas strip.

They travelled all day until they find something called Gun Runners. They wait until dark before moving in for a closer look, and find a stall with a robot inside, a Vendortron. They wonder what to do for a bit, they need shelter, but the Strip isn't that far away. Leaving Gun Runners behind, they head for the lights of the rebuilt city.

"Hey you!" shouts a male voice as they pass a building emblazoned with neon.

A man, perhaps in his mid-twenties, with dirty blonde hair and a leather jacket waves at them.

Cass pauses, unsure of what to do, but Rox steps over and shouts back.

"What d'you want?"

"I was thinking a pretty gal like you could do with some company."

Rox gasped and looked ready to kill, but Cass stepped in and aimed her shotgun at the man.

"Back off buddy, or you'll be pissing blood the rest of your life."

"Woah now, I was only messin', I didn't mean no harm. This here's Kings Territory, all of Freeside is, and I was just wanting to tell you to be careful."

"Well now you have. Goodbye."

Cass turned back to her team, pulling a still angry Rox behind her, but stopped when she heard running footsteps. She turned to see a dog running by, a partially mechanical dog, and two young men chasing it.

"Rex! Get back here!" they shouted.

Cass smiled and went down on one knee.

"Here boy, come on boy, come to me, that's it, gooooood boy!" Cass called and cooed. Rex came to her and sat by her as she petted him.

"Aw, thanks miss. We've been chasing him all over."

"It's okay." Cass replied simply, still petting the dog.

"The King'll be real happy with ya for that, he will."

"It's no problem, really."

"Is there anything we can do for you and your mates there?"

"Um… we could do with a place to stay…"

"Done! Follow me miss, I'm Sergio by the way, the King's barber. I hope Pacer weren't causing you any trouble."

"I dealt with it."

Sergio smiled and led them into the neon covered building, up a set of stairs and into a large room with some beds in it.

"You can stay here tonight, but be out by morning, 'k?"

"Got it."

They were left alone, with just four beds between them; they were going to have to share.

The twins leapt onto the bed the farthest from the door, and Rox and Glitch onto the next one.

Dan and Shadow took the last two, and both glanced at Cass, wondering what bed she'd choose.

"I'm gonna keep watch tonight, okay?"

"No. You need to rest, I'll keep watch." Dan frowned, realising that Cass wouldn't choose either of them.

He liked her, he didn't know why, but she just made him feel sane.

Shadow glared at Dan, but it went unnoticed by Cass this time, she was too busy trying to refuse Dan's bed.

"Don't make me tie you to the bed Cass, just go to sleep; I'll stay up all night."

Cass finally backed-down and lay on the bed, she lay on her right side and saw Rox and Glitch curled up together… when had that happened? Not wanting to see the soppy, couple stuff, she rolled to her left and met the intense gaze of Shadow. Dan was outside the door, the door closed, and Cass felt somewhat vulnerable in the silence.

Shadow sat up, still looking in her eyes and leaned over to her. She froze, unsure what to do, and just watched him move closer.

"I like you."

He kissed her forehead and then moved back to his bed, and faced the wall.

Cass shivered, but it wasn't from the cold.

His voice! It was like liquid silver, so smooth and deep, so seductive! She'd never heard anything like it. She shivered just remembering it, and sat up slowly.

"Shadow…?" She whispered.

He turned around and looked at her.

"What's your real name…?"

"… Sotirios…"

"Sotirios?"

"It's Greek for salvation…"

Cass smiled at him after a moment.

"Hello Sotirios."

He smiled back at her and turned to go to sleep as she did.

For some reason she felt a lot better, like there wasn't any stress any more, and she drifted into dreamland happily.

**(AN - Next chapter is in the works, tell me what you think so far!)**


	5. The Underneath

Chapter 4 – The Underneath 

Dan listened at the door, and heard Cass whisper, though he couldn't make out what she was saying.

That bastard was trying to steal his girl! Cass was his to sleep next to, not Shadow's! What gave him the right to be so friendly with her?

Who was Shadow anyway? They didn't know a thing about him, not even his name, and he could be lying about being a trainee doctor. Just what was his game?

In the room all was quiet, everyone was asleep, well, almost everyone.

Shadow was sitting up in the bed, looking out of the window at the lights of New Vegas, thinking about what had just happened.

Why had he done that? Spoken out loud, told her his name, told her he liked her?

It wasn't like him, not at all.

A year ago, or perhaps… hundreds of years ago, either way before the bombs dropped, he'd killed a man.

His little sister was playing in the street, and he was studying in the living room, watching her to make sure she didn't get into any trouble. But nothing seemed to be happening, so he plugged in his music player, and started his metal blazing.

It wasn't until the screaming started that he even realised something was wrong.

Sotirios had run out of the door and down into the street, where a man was standing over his sister's limp body, having hit her with his car. Sotirios had seen red, and had beat the man to a pulp, then taken his sister inside the house.

His mother had screamed when she'd seen him, holding sweet little Kyra, just six years old and dead…

He was never convicted of murder, they put the man's injuries down to the accident, and he'd later died in hospital. But Sotirios knew what he'd done, and he hadn't spoken since…

Until now that is.

To Cass, this girl had made him speak again. And yes, she was physically attractive, but that wasn't what had caught his eye. It was the way her eyes narrowed when she thought she'd seen some kind of threat, it was the way she did her best to protect everyone, it was the way she had first looked at him, like he was anybody else, and how she'd not cared that he didn't talk to her.

She just accepted him without a care. It was that that made him like her.

Dan didn't like him much, but that was a misunderstanding right?

Shadow turned away from the window and lay down to sleep, his dreams still plagued by images of his sister.

Morning came swiftly and when Shadow woke he was the last one left in the room.

He ventured down the stairs and outside, looking for the group.

"If you're looking for your friends, they went to the gate to see how they could get in."

Shadow turned to face the voice; it was Pacer, from the night before.

He nodded in thanks and headed for the gate, not really looking where he was going, so he didn't see the trap that was waiting for him.

Three men tackled him to the ground and dragged him off to a small shed. They tied him to a chair in there and gagged him, before they beat him with their fists and anything else they could find.

They stopped after a while, and left him alone in the shed.

He couldn't see out of his left eye and he thought some of his ribs were broken. At least one of his back teeth was missing; he could taste the blood, but couldn't move to spit it out.

Where was everyone else? Were they looking for him, or had they left without him? Did they even care..?

Cass did… at least that's what Shadow allowed himself to hope.

Rox and Glitch were at the gate into New Vegas, and had been told by the security robots there, that you'd need some kind of passport, or 2000 caps to enter.

Glitch was sure he could get in without either of those, he was sure he could hack the bot to let them all pass, but he didn't want to do it when someone might get hurt.

The twins were with Cass at a water pump, paying for some bottles of water with the few caps they'd managed to scrape together. Dan was nowhere in sight.

When they met up again that afternoon, to drink the clean water, and talk about how to get through the gate.

Dan met them near the pump, and was grinning for all the world to see.

"What's made you so happy?" Cass asked between gulps.

"Nothing much, just enjoying life."

Cass and Rox frowned at him and exchanged knowing glances that could only be achieved by woman's intuition. Something was up.

"Any one seen Shadow today?" Glitch asked absentmindedly.

"No… I was wanting to talk to him about something though.." Cass mumbled back.

"I heard he was leaving us." Dan interjected.

"What?" Rox exclaimed.

Shadow's chair tipped over, and he hit the ground hard. The gag was starting to choke him and he was gasping for breath through his broken nose. He felt his ribs jolt and shift painfully as he moved his legs to get free. He got his right leg out of the binds, and started to pull his other leg out.

"Shadow!"

"Where are you?"

"Shadow!"

They were looking for him, calling for him, but no matter how hard he wriggled, he just couldn't get free.

Someone was panting and they stopped and leaned against the side of the shed.

"Where are you…?" Cass half whispered.

The shed she was leaning against rocked and a loud clang could be heard from within it. She looked through the tiny window and saw a figure on the floor. She gasped and ran to the door, it was locked and she yanked it franticly, shouting for her friends.

Pacer came over, wondering what was going on. He saw the rebel-girl from before trying to open the shed door where they'd stashed the tall, silent guy. He had to stop her from discovering the young man, or he wouldn't get paid by that tough guy.

He dashed over and covered the girl's mouth to quiet her, and pinned her arms to her sides with his other arm. She screamed against his palm, and tried to bite him, so he threw her against the shed door. He opened the door quickly and dragged her inside. He tied her up and left her next to the tall guy who had fallen onto the floor.

He then left, locking the door behind him and running away, he didn't want to be caught.

The twins came running round the corner, having heard Cass calling them. They couldn't see her, so they called for her.

"Caaaaasssss!" They yelled at the top of their lungs.

They heard a clanging noise and found a metal shed. In the tiny window, they could see two people lying on the floor, Cass and Shadow.

Law pulled out a small box from his back pocket and Ken pulled out some wire. They attached the explosive to the door and ran back a few feet, then blasted the lock off.

Rox and Glitch arrived just as the twins were untying Cass and Shadow. Cass was unconscious, having hit her head against the door, and a second time against the floor when she'd been thrown. Shadow stood and picked up her limp frame, and then carried her towards the King's territory, he was fuming, but he knew who'd hurt Cass, and he knew how to make the culprits come forward.

He stood in the centre of the road and glared at anything that moved. Dan came out of the King's main building with Pacer at his side.

Shadow… spoke.

"You killed her…"

His voice was low and dark, and Dan ran towards them but stopped and stared, he turned back to Pacer.

"You weren't supposed to kill anyone!"

And that was all Shadow needed. He turned and walked away, leading the group away towards the desert. They couldn't stay here, stay with _him._

Dan was a danger to everyone the way he carried on, they would be better off without him. Rox and Glitch tugged the twins behind them and they all followed the grim man away from Freeside.

Dan yelled at them to come back, and turned to strike out at Pacer, who raised his hands up in defence.

"I didn't do nothing', she was fine when I left her."

Dan raised his gun and fired, Pacer went down in a hail of bullets, but the Kings didn't stand around to watch it happen, they pulled out their own weapons and returned the fire.

The group heard the gunfire, and Dan's final scream, and then they were gone.

**(AN - So that explains Shadow being mute, and his recovery because of Cass. Let me know what you think of the whole thing! R&R please!)**


	6. Home Comforts

Chapter 5 – Home Comforts

Shadow and Cass had recovered quickly from their wounds. It turned out Shadow's ribs weren't broken, just bruised, and Cass woke up angrier than she'd ever been in her life.

The pressed on towards the west, looking for somewhere they could call home, and had come across a mountain. They thought that if they wanted to be out of the way of everyone down below, up in the mountain would be the best place to be.

They'd passed through the territories of many strange creatures, and had met some nice people who'd been kind enough to tell them about the monsters, and they even traded with them.

Cazadors had attacked them at the foothills, a nest being just up the way, and they'd managed to kill them all before anyone got poisoned. They heard the calls of Nightstalkers in the evening, and took shelter up a cliff until morning to avoid being eaten alive. They'd not come across any Deathclaws yet. And they didn't want to either.

They'd been on their way up the slope, nearly two weeks since they'd left Vegas, when a blizzard had blown in. It was a total white-out. They couldn't see a hand an inch from their faces. They were linked together by a rope made from Bighorner hide, and had goggles made from Cazador eyes on to protect them from the flying ice.

They each had new clothes, thick and warm, and most especially, waterproof.

Cass had taught them all to hunt smaller creatures like bark scorpions, before they'd moved onto Cazadors and Nightstalkers. They needed to learn as much as they could about the predators of the land, in order to survive. Then they went after the Bighorners.

They'd walled off a section of a passage through two high walls of a cliff, and then they'd chased the Bighorners into the passage with fire. Once they were in the pen, they'd closed off the entrance, and begun the slaughter.

They used almost everything from the eleven animals. Skin, bone, meat, organs, hooves and horns. It was all necessary to keep on living. The stomach and bladder were made into water bags and cooking bags, and the hides into clothes, cured first with the brains to make them soft and flexible. They'd used the bones to make weapons, knives and such, and even carved handles for them. They used the horns to carry fire coals, and even as actual horns to call each other on should they get separated. The hooves they boiled for glue, for the knives and arrow heads and fletches for the bows Cass had taught them to make. They used the tendons to make the wire to fire the arrows from, and also as string for sewing the clothes together.

They now each had new boots, gloves, trousers, coats and hats. They also each had a horn to signal to each other, and a bow with full quivers each. They carried a large water bag too, and all had the necessary equipment to start and keep up a fire. If you wanted to survive, you had to be prepared.

Cass had also constructed a tall, sturdy staff for her to lean on, and to probe the path ahead for falls and holes covered by the thickly gathering snow.

The snow slowed for a few minutes, and it gave them enough time to look for shelter before the winds picked up again. There was a cave to their right, the partially covered opening making it hard to see, but they made their way towards it anyway. They went in as a team, lighting torches of Bighorner fat in hollowed out bones, and raising them high, weapons at the ready.

The cave was a lot larger than it looked, and completely empty. A quick search confirmed they were alone, so they set about sealing up the entrance to the cave. They walled up most of the outside with snow, leaving an air hole at the top, and then they put up a wind breaker of hide and bone to stop the howling wind. There were three sections to the cave. A small entrance room, about nine feet square, and then in the back left corner, a tiny passage into the next room, and the largest of the three. It was here they decided to build a fire and stick up the torches. It was about twenty foot wide and roughly the same in the other direction. There were a couple of rock pillars about two thirds of the way down one wall, and so that half became almost like a kitchen, and the other a living area. Finally there was the bedroom. The entrance was next to the pillars, and the passage went down several feet into the earth. It was quite steep, so Shadow tied a rope to on thick pillar and threaded it down, pinning it into the wall with hard bone pins until it reached the bottom.

The bedroom was roughly fifteen foot long, and ten feet wide. They separated it into three sections. One for the twins, one for Rox and Glitch, and the last for Cass and Shadow.

It was almost like a home.

Sitting round the fire in their normal clothes Rox stirred a meaty stew in the cooking bag. They had bone plates ready, made out of the shoulder blades of Nightstalkers. They ate well that night, and once the passage into the entrance room was blocked up with rocks and another windbreaker, they settled down to sleep. It was a little uncomfortable at first, but they were tired and had learned to sleep just about anywhere in the last fortnight.

Cass woke up in the night, having forgotten to bank the fire to stop it going out, and once she'd done that, she checked the entrance was still intact. Satisfied, she clambered back down to bed.

That was the only thing that disturbed their sleep that night, and they all woke fresh the next day, ready for action.

"Who's up for a day of nothing?" Cass asked over breakfast.

"Nothing? What do you mean?" Glitch enquired.

"Like… we could play in the snow or something. We've done a lot of work lately, and this place is comfortable… we could stay a while…"

The twins grinned and ran to the door, but were called back by Rox, who made them put their outdoor clothes, horns and weapons. She was almost motherly.

Glitch went with them, to sit by the door and keep watch, and Rox started on a snowman, battling her way through nearly four feet of snow.

Cass and Shadow were left alone.

"Do you think we should stay here?" Cass asked absentmindedly, not looking at Shadow, trying to get him to talk again. No matter how hard she tried, he hadn't said a word to her, or anyone for that matter, since they'd left Dan behind.

When she heard nothing once more, she frowned in frustration, and turned to face the young man.

He stood a little way off; fixing one of the lamps that had gone out in the night and fallen over.

He wasn't really a _young_ man anymore, just a man, he had more muscle, more experience in his body, and it certainly showed. Even Ken and Law had lost their baby fat and were turning into right little body builders. Glitch wasn't as well defined, but he was trying to get stronger, for Rox.

Their relationship had blossomed, she kept him out of trouble, and he treated her like a princess, giving her anything she wanted, which wasn't really much nowadays…

Cass had a talk with Rox about her relationship just a few days before. Rox and Glitch wanted to have sex, but the blonde had been warned against it for the health of the whole team. If she got pregnant, she would only slow them down later on. It would be best to wait until they were settled somewhere first. Only then would any of them be able to think about making a family.

If they lived that long…

"Hey, I'm talking to you bucko! What do you think… should we stay here?"

Shadow turned and looked at her, gaze intense, just like that night that felt so long ago.

He smiled softly, just the corners of his mouth turning up, and then he shrugged.

"Fat lot of use you are…" Cass threw at him, turning back to the fire, still not expecting an answer.

She almost leapt out of her skin when strong arms encircled her waist, and a hard chest hit her back.

She blushed violently, and wriggled a little, trying to get away. But warm breath on her ear stopped her in her tracks. She didn't turn her head, knowing that if she did, she'd be too tempted to say something stupid.

He was warm, she noted… and he smelled nice, like rain and pine needles…

He didn't move until someone stumbled into the room, laughing still from the fun of the snow.

"You guys coming or what? By the way, you wouldn't happen to have anything we can use as a snowman's nose?" Rox grinned, her nose and cheeks red with the cold.

Shadow was gone, down into the bedroom to… be alone?

"Sure! Let me see what I've got." Cass stood and went over to her pack, the rummaged through it until she found what she was looking for, a root from what she thought to be a type of carrot… only it was more yellow than orange in colour…

"I'll just get my gear and then I'll join you."

Rox took the root and skipped back outside, humming a familiar tune to herself… was that… Deck the Halls?

Cass thought to herself… what was the date? It must be late November or early December she thought.

She frowned, and then smiled and went to find Shadow. When she told him her idea, he smiled a real smile and nodded in agreement, ready to help her in anyway.

That afternoon, Shadow went down the mountain and into the valley below by himself whilst Cass kept the rest of them busy. She had them flatten the floor of the bed room, and then taught them about carving for decoration, which they all wanted to try right away.

She went to the kitchen to start their late lunch, and Shadow arrived back… with a fir tree in tow!

She smiled at him and helped him lash it to one of the pillars opposite the bedroom doorway. Then she threw him some bits of hide, cut into thin strips, the reddish colour making it a great decoration.

Cass left Shadow to sort out the tree and went back to the others with some thick twine in hand.

She made them all carve little holes in the top of their decorations, and thread the twine through it and knot it. Then she led them into the living area… where the Christmas tree stood.

They all gasped and grinned, shocked and happy.

It was then they realised what the decorations were for, to go on the tree!

"You guys are like, the best parents _ever_!" Cried Ken and Law together.

Cass froze and looked at Shadow… what did the twins just say?

Ignoring it, Cass turned to her team.

"We're gonna have Christmas in… five days! So I'm gonna need your help to get things ready. Can I count on you?"

They all cheered in return, except Shadow… he didn't say anything these days.

Preparations were underway.

**(AN - R&R please, let me know what you think, or I can't write what you need!)**


	7. Home Away from Home

Chapter 6 – Home Away from Home

Rox and the twins cleaned the cave from top to bottom, and Glitch and Shadow went to get more decorations, firewood, and hunt small animals for food. Cass went off on her own, to who knows where, and didn't return until nightfall. When she did she did so supporting two long sturdy branches and a shorter one too. She then spent time in the entrance cave constructing a travois. The travois looked like a capital A, with the long poles tied at the top and the ends dragging on the ground. The shorter pole was tied closer to the widest point of the V, and gave the structure more support. It could now be used as something to carry large loads on.

Cass had travelled far to find the right sort of wood, as trees were scarce on the mountain, and she even caught some fluffy rabbit-like creatures the size of beagles for their skins.

She was going to make them into pillows for Rox, who'd been complaining of a crick in her neck from sleeping on the floor.

She'd also gathered a load of grass from the lower plains, to use it as bedding. She'd need more Bighorner hides to make real beds though.

The next day she organised a hunting trip with Rox and Shadow, to hunt some Bighorners, and left Glitch in charge of the twins and the protection of the cave.

The caught quite a few, and used the travois to carry back what they couldn't themselves. Six fell to their cunning.

Once back to the cave, the entrance room was turned into a mess as they butchered the animals and took what they needed from the creatures.

Cass took three of the hides for herself, and the hind leg bones of each animal, in order to make everyone a Christmas present.

Rox took most of the horns for herself, and began to carve cutlery out of the ivory. She also used some shoulder bones and a pelvis bone to make dishes. The pelvis she turned into a large cooking pot, filling the holes with cut-out segments of bone that she fired to get them to seal in place. She then lined the inside with a stomach to keep it waterproof. The shoulder bones were made into platters and plates to eat off of.

Ken and Law were working on the cave's security. They were building a real door to put over the entrance, using bone and wood that Glitch had found for them. They made planks out of the stuff, and had glued and tied it together. They even made a hinge for it, and were hammering away at the wall of the cave to hang the door. They wanted to re-enforce the door with sheets of metal, but they hadn't been able to find any.

Glitch was making jewellery for them all. Using Nightstalker teeth and Bighorner ivory. He had necklaces for each of them, all made in a similar style, with a big sharp tooth hanging down, and beads of ivory on the string. He made a little something extra for Rox though, a bracelet with her name carved onto it.

Shadow was gone from the cave for the whole day, no one knew where he'd gone, but when he came back, he had large sacks filled with things they weren't allowed to see. Everything was a mystery when it came to him.

On the third day, Cass went out to get more grasses for bedding, and found an abandoned house with all sorts of things inside of it. She found a bucket, a pickaxe and spade, a wheelbarrow and loads of old clothes and some curtains. She even found some birds that resembled chickens, and popped them in a sack to take back alive. She looked at the eggs they'd laid, and cracked one open to see if it was alright to eat. Deciding it was fine; she gathered them all up and carefully put them in her pack, wrapped in soft furs so they wouldn't break.

She put everything into the wheelbarrow and search around the house some more. She found a small shed at the back, and she found a skeleton locked inside. She bowed her head in respect and then apologised for taking their stuff before rummaging around in the shed. She found terracotta pots, and realised that filler with dirt, they'd make great stands for torches.

She also found some ammo and a 9mm pistol that she loaded and tucked into the waistband of her jeans. That seemed to be all that she could scavenge for the time, and so she went back to gathering grasses. She returned in the evening to the yummy smell of roasting Bighorn, and showed her finds to the team.

Eagerly tucking into her meal, she looked around at the people around her.

They weren't a team or a group anymore…

They were family…

The chickens were locked into the entrance room, and had a pen made for them out of hide and bone windbreakers, with rocks holding it up. They had to drape a hide over the top to stop the birds from jumping out though.

Cass filled the bucket with snow, and melted it by the fire; she put the eggs into it and put it in the back corner of the kitchen that had turned into their larder. It would keep them cool.

The next morning they had fried eggs for breakfast, and Cass worked on the dried grasses. Some of them were maize, and other wheat-like grasses, so she gathered the pods and kept them in a hide bag. She then stuffed the grass into the large bag-like mattresses she'd made out of hides.

Using a bone platter that had been left over from their hunt, Cass used a round rock she'd found and began to crush the kernels into a fine powder. Glitch and Shadow came back that afternoon with a table and some fold-up chairs; they also brought back some more wheat and maize for Cass to make into flower.

They'd used the wheel barrow to carry it all up the slope.

Once Cass had enough flower she put it back into the hide bag for later, and then collected the eggs laid by the hens and put down some water and corn for them.

They clucked happily, and pecked at the earthy floor, content to stay a while.

Cass was starting to wish she had some salt. Not only did it add flavour to the food they ate, but it could also be used as a preservative. They were all getting tired of smoked and dried meats.

The cave, they'd only meant to stay the night… and now it was becoming a home…

Rox finished making the dishes, and they used them that night to make a beautiful soup. She'd been gathering herbs and vegetables that she'd found near the cave to flavour it, but she kept some aside for Christmas day.

That night it rained horribly, and it washed most of the snow away, but it revealed a clean fresh world behind. Only one day til Christmas!

That night they sat round the fire together, telling each other stories, of their lives, of imaginary heroes and there were even some fairy tales floating about.

They went to bed late, and they all slept in a little longer than normal, but no one minded, because today was Christmas!

**(AN - A little festive piece for you coming soon, I'm not just writing this for Christmas, I'll be going through a few years with these characters. If you could, can you review and let me know how things are going? Do you like the characters, the plot so far? Do you think I should add anything? It'll only get better if you tell me, and even if you don't see anything that needs changing, can you tell me that instead? Love you!)**


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